scholarly journals Engagement with mobile health interventions for depression: A systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 100454
Author(s):  
Anthony Molloy ◽  
Page L. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Health Interventions

A systematic review of mobile health interventions in China: Identifying gaps in care

2019 ◽  
pp. 1357633X1985674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoshi Yang ◽  
Carrie L Kovarik
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
World Health ◽  
Common Disease

Introduction Mobile health has a promising future in the healthcare system in most developed countries. China’s rapidly developing mobile technology infrastructure offers an unprecedented opportunity for wide adoption of mobile health interventions in the delivery of effective and timely healthcare services. However, there is little data on the current extent of the mobile health landscape in China. The aim of this study was to systematically review the existing mobile health initiatives in China, characterise the technology used, disease categories targeted, location of the end user (urban versus rural), and examine the potential effects of mobile health on health system strengthening in China. Furthermore, we identified gaps in development and evaluation of the effectiveness of mobile health interventions. Methods A systematic review of the literature published from 18 December 2015–3 April 2019 was conducted and yielded 2863 articles from English and Chinese retrieval database and trial registries, including PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge of Infrastructure and World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. Studies were included if they used mobile health to support patient healthcare outcomes. Results A total of 1129 full-text articles were assessed and 338 were included in this study. The review found that most studies targeted client education and behaviour change via applications (apps) (65.4%), including WeChat, and text messaging (short text messages) (19.8%) to improve patient medical treatment outcomes such as compliance and appointment reminders. The most common disease-specific mobile health interventions focused primarily on chronic disease management and behaviour change in cardiology (13.3%), endocrinology/diabetes (12.1%), behavioural health (11.8%), oncology (11.2%) and neurology (6.8%). The mobile health interventions related to nutrition (0.6%) and chronic respiratory diseases (1.6%) are underrepresented in mobile health in comparison to the burden of disease in China. The majority (90.0%) of the mobile health interventions were conducted exclusively in urban areas, with few opportunities reaching rural populations. Conclusions Overall, mobile health has a promising future in China, with recent rapid growth in initiatives. The majority are focused on education and behaviour change in the realm of chronic diseases and target patients in urban areas. The imbalance in mobile health between the urban and rural areas, as well as between population disease spectrum and health service delivery, pose substantial dilemmas. However, mobile health may be redirected to correct this imbalance, possibly improving access to healthcare services, and filling the gaps in order to improve health equity for the underserved populations in China.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of mobile health interventions to improve nasal corticosteroid adherence in allergic rhinitis: A systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Stage Baxter ◽  
Holly Tibble ◽  
Andrew Bush ◽  
Aziz Sheikh ◽  
Jürgen Schwarze
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Allergic Rhinitis ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Health Interventions

What role do mHealth interventions play in changing gender relations? A systematic review of qualitative findings. (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth K Kirkwood ◽  
Caitlin Clymer ◽  
Kheminda Imbulana ◽  
Sumaya Mozumder ◽  
Michael John Dibley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Mhealth Intervention ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Low And Middle Income

BACKGROUND The rapid, widespread growth of mobile technologies, in low-and-middle-income countries, can offer groundbreaking ways to disseminate public health interventions. However, gender-based inequalities present a challenge for women to access mobile technology. Research has shown that mHealth interventions can impact gender relations in positive and negative ways, yet few mHealth programs use a gender sensitive lens when designing, implementing, or analyzing programs. OBJECTIVE This systematic review aims to identify and summarize the findings of qualitative research studies which explore the impact of mobile health interventions on gender relations as a result of participating in such initiatives in low-and-middle income countries. METHODS We performed a systematic literature review to examines empirical evidence of changes in gender relations attributed to their participation in an mHealth intervention in a low-and-middle income country. Peer-reviewed articles included needed to evaluate an mHealth intervention and were published between 2013 and 2020. Articles were excluded that used mHealth that solely targeted health workers, did not assess a specific intervention or used mobile technology for data collection only or were formative or exploratory in nature. The search terms were entered into four key electronic databases, Medline, Excerpta Médica Database (EMBASE), PsycINFO, and Scopus generating a comprehensive list of potentially relevant peer-reviewed articles. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and report themes emerged from our data. RESULTS From the 578 full text articles retrieved, fourteen articles were eligible for inclusion. None of the articles appraised gender from the outset. Articles uncovered findings on gender relations through the course of the intervention or post program evaluation. Most studies took place in Sub-Saharan Africa with the remainder in South and South East Asia. Articles focused on maternal and child health, HIV diagnosis and treatment, and reproductive health. This review found mHealth programs could enhance spousal communication, foster emotional support between couples, improve women’s self-efficacy and autonomy in seeking health information and services, and increase involvement in health-related decision making. Despite the positive impacts, some mHealth interventions had an adverse effect, reinforcing the digital divide, upholding men as gatekeepers of information and sole decision makers and exacerbating relationship problems. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest given the rapid, persistent upscale of mobile health interventions in low-and-middle income settings, it is imperative to design interventions that consider the impact they may have on power dynamics and gender relations. Future research is needed to fill evidence gaps on gender and mHealth, acknowledging that women are not passive beneficiaries and need to actively participate and be empowered by mHealth interventions. CLINICALTRIAL The systematic review is registered with Prospero (CRD42021218001)

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